Pediatric Associates of Alexandria

Reviews 4

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Liz Traylor

I will never take my baby back to this office. I took my daughter to this practice on my first day home from giving birth to her and my husband and myself were advised to receive a TDAP (Whooping Cough) vaccine to prevent spreading it to my newborn daughter should we become infected. So I signed a form with the vaccine manufacture, lot number, exp. date and was asked to fill out my personal info (name, address, DOB, childs name, etc.) and sign it. When we checked out to make our next appointment, to our surprise, I was asked to pay $120 out of pocket for the vaccines for myself and my husband. I was very surprised the doctor and/or nurse who administered the vaccine did not tell me I would have to pay this out of pocket. The employee at the front desk told me to just file the claim myself with my insurance company by filing a claim to get the $120 back. Once home and a few days later, I decided to call the practice to find out the diagnosis code, procedure code, etc… for the insurance form and Pediatric Associates of Alexandria refused to assist me. I was directed to a very hostile woman in the billing department who refused to help me. She said by filling signing the form, that I waived my rights to file the claim myself with my insurance company and they would not assist me. She said it was my fault that I did not read the forms disclaimer. **Remember, this was my first day home from giving birth and I was under medication and running on one hour of sleep having been up all night with my daughter so I did not read the disclaimer. Here is exactly how their form reads, "I understand that Pediatric Associates of Alexandria is offering the TDAP vaccine as a courtesy. I understand that this service will not be billed through my insurance company, as I am not a patient of PAA. I acknowledge that the receipt given for my payment today cannot be used to receive reimbursement from my insurance company. I understand that if I would like to have this service billed thru my insurance company, I should contact my family physician and schedule an appointment with them to have this service performed there." Why would they care if I want to get reimbursed for this shot? I do have insurance after all for a reason. Why could the nurse not have told a sleep deprived mother who was under medication, had only 1 hour of sleep the night before and tending to a fussy baby that this was their policy? Instead I was told it was my fault b/c I did not read the form and they would not assist me further. My other complaint is that you will be passed off from doctor to doctor or physician assistant to physician assistant so your child will see random doctors or physician assistants. This office does not practice good business ethics concerning the issue with the vaccine and they lack consistency and individual care as your child will be placed on an assembly line of different care givers, this is their policy as I was told. You can wait to see the same care giver but they said it could be a very lengthy wait, as they rather place you with the first available doctor or physician assistant.

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Sharon Ansara

Have been going to this practice for over 5 years with my three children ages 5-18 months. Yesterday I called to get some information from the advice nurse and I was told all of my children had been discharged from the service due to a billing issue. I called the billing department only to find I had an unpaid balance that was over 5 years old that had been sent to collections. I had moved a couple of times since I had my first child. I received no notice or a Phone call from them. They stated there were several notices, but I received nothing. Of course I immediately paid the balance but now I must write a "letter asking to be reinstated" and it will be submitted for consideration. How long will that take? They were unable to tell me. Now I have no care for my children from a practice that I have paid thousands of dollars to through my insurance. I have been to the practice no less than 75 times within the last 5 years and NO ONE mentioned a past due balance. This policy tells me they have far to many customers to care. Not too sure I want to write that letter. Also the billing department was sarcastic and condescending rather than helpful. I asked to talk to someone who made this policy and was told I could speak to the billing supervisor who merely enforces the policy but they couldnt tell me who made these policies. Very disappointed in the whole process. If you want a pediatric service that cares about the family it services this is probably not the place for you.

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Alison Hatch

Not happy with this practice. The doctors have all been very kind but during my most recent visit the physician said my daughters medical records had no mention of a condition for which theyve been treating her for more than three years! When they give a "referral", they give you a canned letter with a long list of providers and you have to go through it yourself to find someone who treats your childs condition and will accept your child as a patient. The office staff is indifferent at best and often rude. If you need to speak to an advice nurse, you have to wait on hold until the receptionist answers, then leave a message and wait for a return call. If you miss the return call (like when youre busy taking care of a sick child), you have to go through the receptionist all over again to request another call. An after hours call is difficult as well since the calling service insists that you give the name of your provider even though we see a different doctor every time we go and end up talking to whichever doctor is on call that night anyway. They now take walk-ins at almost any time, but that means we have to schedule an appointment at least 5 or 6 weeks out. Im afraid I simply cant recommend this practice to anyone.

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Julio méndez

They tried to charge me 50 dollars to get my new born insurance number and we told t them we have it , she gets seen and on the way out they charged my credit card 50 anyways cause they have funny paperwork and used my wife info instead of my kid, then they said is my fault for not giving them the number wich we did and now they say refund takes 2 weeks , Dania in the front desk is a joke she laugh at me on the phone and keep me on hold for 20 min the I Speake to Erica and sge, was no help after she saw it was not our mistake she said well is too bad u have to Waite for ur money , they ran a test on my baby and it said on the pink paper I was to get a brochure about the test they doing and when u asked the nurse she was rude and said I should of got a brochure at the hospital that they dint have any with a rude voice and was ignoring my questions about the test , dont take ur kids here cause also they have a separate room for the sick and well and is not a spare room at all they in the same room and when they call the sick kids they walk in front of the well kids to get seen , bad with my olde 5 year old and bad with my new born , doc are awesome but the staff needs to grow a heart , they dealing with kids here

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